Stories have circulated in recent years about Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando’s erratic behaviour on stage – audiences never quite knowing whether he’ll deliver another heartbreaking cover or phone a family member mid-set. At times it has seemed as if he were intent on becoming a latter-day Gram Parsons or Dan Treacy – as famous for the chaos as for the music. He’s fully aware of this, too – his new autobiography is pointedly titled Rumours Of My Demise.
Fortunately, Dando has drawn as much from Parsons’s and Treacy’s musical brilliance as from their excesses. Love Chant, The Lemonheads’ first studio album in nearly two decades, is a remarkable return to form, standing comfortably alongside their 90s peak, 1993’s Come On Feel The Lemonheads. It’s fun, frantic, and full of classic Lemonheads hooks, self-deprecating refrains, and perfectly crafted mini-operas in the style of Jimmy Webb.
